movie forecast: we own the night

editor's note: for a detailed explanation of a movie forecast, click here

when face/off came out over a decade ago, i was excited to see the dynamic interactions between nicolas cage and john travolta. as for mark wahlberg and joaquin phoenix, not so much. judging from the trailers, we own the night seems like a movie that attempts to capture the gritty, street-tough look and feel. but what i get the most from the trailer is the visual of the guy who wears a burlap sack over his head. i'm guessing the purpose of the burlap sack is to disguise his identity, but aren't there better ways to conceal one's face that are better than that?

anyway, the commercials for this movie include the names of 'wahlberg. phoenix. mendes. and duvall.' i suppose they are trying to emphasize its star power, but when i saw the names i thought, wait a minute, mendes? it's a nice try trying to sneak in eva mendes with those other names, but i don't think many people are going to see a movie because it has eva mendes in it. i guess they thought that if she was sandwiched between bigger names then they could get away with it.

apparently this movie is about two brothers who are on opposite sides of the law, and for some reason the they join forces to take down the bad guys. it's not entirely original, but if done well, it can be entertaining. the action scenes look like they use real objects [as opposed to cgi], which is always a plus. areas where it could hurt the movie would be a cookie-cutter plot line, which i wouldn't be surprised if it was.

prognosis: 7/10

movie forecast: the heartbreak kid

editor's note: for a detailed explanation of a movie forecast, click here

ben stiller makes two kinds of comedies: good ones and bad ones. unfortunately, it looks like the heartbreak kid falls into the latter category. it seems like that's been the story with his latest movies, which should be a sign that people may be tiring of his act. i'm not saying that he won't make any more good comedies, just that his recent movies have been more or less the same [read: unoriginal, uninspired, formulaic, etc].

as far the heartbreak kid goes, the premise is supposedly about ben stiller realizing that his newlywed wife is not the person he expected her to be. apparently she is so neurotic that it results in ben stiller being trapped in some latin country [i want to say it's mexico, and if that's the case, i fear for his digestive system]. i'm sure the makers of this movie thought that hilarity would ensue, but i'm afraid that it won't [at least, not enough times to make it worthwhile].

prognosis : 6/10